It has become a common practice to display advertising material on vehicles. Many commercial transport vehicles, for example, taxi-cabs and buses, lease space on the vehicle to mount and display commercial advertisements for advertising clients. Further, vehicles specifically purposed for the display of advertising material are common in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,850 (Strzeletz), for example, discloses a mobile billboard advertising system whereby a plurality of advertisements can be displayed in connection with a motor vehicle by means of rotatable display panels mounted on the vehicle. Vehicle advertising of this type has limitations in that the messages typically are fixed and do not allow for changes to the advertising messages while “in the field.” Moreover, the system of displaying advertisements on large panels mounted on the vehicle is appropriate only for a vehicle specially built for that purpose. Passenger vehicles, which are far more numerous and therefore represent tremendous potential for mobile advertising, are not a practical solution given the current state of mobile advertising display.
Mobile technology has emerged as providing a means for advertisers to target customers with electronic devices (for example smartphones or tablets,) with advertisements relevant to the user's established preferences and geographic location. For example, U.S. Patent Application 2014/0188614 (Badenhop) discloses a messaging system app that displays commercial messages on a user's electronic device when that user has exhibited, through use of his or her electronic device, a preference for the advertiser's goods and services and when the user is located near advertiser's location. This technology is limited however to targeting the consumer preferences of the owner of the mobile device.
What is desired therefore, and not provided in the prior art, is a method and system for advertisers to efficiently target and have displayed advertisements and other messages to a large number of people located in a region where such advertisements would have a positive effect on such people and which also utilizes a changeable, mobile display of those messages on a potentially large number of mobile platforms in the form of passenger vehicles and the like when such vehicles are within a particular desired geographic and demographic location.
What is also desired is a system and method whereby users of passenger vehicles can utilize the display space inherent on their vehicles to display advertisements and other messages for which the users can derive a financial or other benefit.